A News Blog

Crime and courts in West Alabama

Two Alberta men have been arrested in suspicion for a string of armed robberies in Tuscaloosa County. Kesharn Lykendrick Battle, 20, and Trevon Diante Battle, 18, both of the 2300 Block of 10th Street East, were arrested Friday night and charged with first degree robbery. Kesharn Battle was charged with four counts of robbery and booked into the Tuscaloosa County Jail on $255,000 bond. Trevon Battle was charged with one count and booked on $60,000 bond. As of 1 p.m. Saturday… Read More »

Former Alabama state Sen. Phil Poole and his brother, Bank of Moundville president Howell Poole, were charged with harassment after a fight Thursday night. Moundville Police charged both men after they were involved in a dispute in the parking lot of the Bank of Moundville, Police Chief Ken Robertson confirmed Friday. Officers were called to the bank at 6:22 p.m. “Upon arrival, officers discovered that Victor Poole Jr. and Price Howell Poole were involved in a confrontation that stemmed from… Read More »

Investigators believe that a Tuscaloosa County man sexually victimized at least 11 young boys over the course of 30 years. Steve William Karr, 53, faces 25 sexual abuse charges in a case that Sheriff Ted Sexton compared to that of former Penn State assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky. “This is the largest-scale victimization that we have seen, at least in my career,” he said. “That’s why we feel that there are more victims out there.” Sexton said that Karr would… Read More »

Tuscaloosa Police Robberies A man said that two teenagers approached him in the 4400 block of 21st Street between noon and 12:15 p.m. Thursday and asked for money. He said that he didn’t have any. The teenagers struck him on the head with an unknown object and knocked him unconscious, he told police. A man told officers that he was pumping gas at a gas station in the 1800 block of Culver Road at 4:10 p.m. when a man with… Read More »

Arrests Thursday Amanda Herndon Cox, 35, 14000 block of U.S. Highway 171, was charged with fraudulent use of a credit card. Bail was set at $30,000. Eddie Lee Poe III, 21, 3800 block of 26th Avenue, was charged with breaking and entering a vehicle. Bail was set at $15,000. Steve William Karr, 53, 13000 block of Rifle Range Road, was charged with first-degree sodomy, sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 and first-degree sexual abuse. Bail was set at… Read More »

Police are investigating two robberies, a purse-snatching and a candlestick theft that happened Thursday. In the first case, a witness drove up to Skyland Boulevard Baptist Church at 10:50 a.m. and saw a suspect inside a victim’s vehicle. The suspect fled with candlesticks he had stolen out of the vehicle, Tuscaloosa Police said, and was later apprehended by police. Later that morning, a woman was unlocking her car at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store on Culver Road at 11:50 a.m.… Read More »

Three young men were killed in a crash in Coker on Wednesday evening. Johnny Channell, Jared Porter and Brandon Campbell, all 23, died at the scene of the accident on U.S. Highway 82 and Sam Sutton Road. Investigators said that Channell was driving a Ford F150. A witness said that he ran through a stop sign while traveling south at around 30 miles per hour, Northport Police Chief Robert Green said Thursday morning. The truck collided with a Ford F650… Read More »

(Melton, Robinson, Orange) Three men have been charged with having having sexual contact with young girls. The victims in the unrelated cases were 11, 12 and 13, said Tuscaloosa Police spokesman Sgt. Brent Blankley. John Charles Robinson, 41, was charged Wednesday with first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy and sexual abuse of a child younger than 12. The parents of the victim reported to police in November that he was sexually involved with their 11-year-old daughter. Jonathan Jermaine Melton,… Read More »

Four people were killed in two separate traffic accidents Wednesday. Three young men were killed in Coker after crashing into a large work truck. A Moundville man was killed 20 minutes later when his motorcycle hit a deer that was crossing Alabama Highway 69 South. Johnny Channell, Jared Porter and Brandon Campbell, all 23, died at the scene of the accident on U.S. Highway 82 and Sam Sutton Road. Timmy Barrett, 50, was killed in the motorcycle crash. In the Coker… Read More »

Tuesday Alquan C. Patton, 26, 2900 block of Ash Street, was charged with first-degree possession of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance. Bail was set at $6,000. Brandon Smith, 28, 21000 block of Mississippi Highway 63, Moss Point, Miss., was charged with two counts of first-degree theft. Bail was set at $30,000. Ernest Watts, 46, 100 block of West Avenue, Uniontown, was charged with possession of a controlled substance. Bail was set at $15,000. William Bowers, 21, 15000 block… Read More »